In enterprise computing environments, end users' computers are usually managed by IT administrators. For security and maintenance reasons, users typically do not have administration rights on their computers. This prevents them from installing applications on the computer directly and instead applications are deployed centrally by administrators through what is referred to as an application packaging process.
In the financial industry, for example, firms such as banks and hedge funds have strict security and compliance policies. Users are prevented from installing applications on their computers to protect against potential security threats. Before an application is packaged and deployed to a user's computer, most firms conduct an IT security review to ensure that the application meets security and compliance standards. Similar processes are followed to update an application that was previously installed on a user's computer.
Such application deployment processes create two significant problems for application developers. First, IT security reviews and application packaging processes can take months to complete, causing delays in deploying the application to users. Second, different firms deploy and update applications at different times, requiring application developers to simultaneously support multiple versions of their application. This is particularly a problem for internet-based applications such as trading applications where users from different firms interact with one another through the application and therefore usually need to be using the same version of the application.